The evening planets available for viewing are Jupiter and Mars. Jupiter is appearing in the western sky after sunset. The planet is in the zodiacal constellation Taurus, the bull. The planet is above the head of the bull and between the bull's horns. Jupiter won't be with us for very long. We've only got a couple of weeks to see it. Each night ahead, it appears lower in the western sky.
The Lyrid Meteor shower is a favorite for spring. For the first time we have a meteor shower that isn't happening in the depths of winter. It is spring, and we can all go outside and enjoy this important shower. The time to look for meteors at their peak is Monday night and well into the early hours of Tuesday morning. This is a popular shower if only for the convenience of better night temperatures.
Sunday night's full moon, the Daffodil Moon, will be one of the smallest full moons of the year. Can you tell? We often hear stories about a large moon and it being some kind of significant event. When the moon is close, large and full it has a big impact on our changing tides. There is magic associated with a large full moon.
Tomorrow Saturday night, the gibbous moon appears in close proximity to the the bright red planet Mars. The two are in the zodiacal constellation Gemini. Mars has lost a lot of its brilliance from just a few months ago. Mars is getting farther away from us, over 100,000 miles away now and that distance is growing, thus it is getting dimmer.
Mars and the Moon are a nice looking assembly. You'll have no trouble noticing Mars with its reddish glow. Not far away are the two brightest stars in Gemini, Pollux and Castor. Pollux is the closest to the moon and the brighter of the two.
A popular spring constellation, easy to find, is Boötes, the shepherd. The large constellation is rising in the north east after sunset. The arrangement of stars looks like a large kite, though it depicts a shepherd. The bright orange star Arcturus is at the bottom of the kite, where one might attach a tail.
Do you still have those solar eclipse safety glasses you tucked away some time ago. You've got an opportunity to use them again, a week from tomorrow, on Saturday, March 29 early in the morning.
There will be a partial solar eclipse, possibly visible from here, in the early morning. We have to say upfront that it will be irreversably harmful of you are not using those glasses.
Only a portion of the rising morning sun will be covered by the moon, making it especially dangerous. No one should ever look directly at the sun without protective glasses. It is serious.
Venus is ever so quickly slipping closer to the western horizon each night. The brightest planet that looks like an airplane approaching with landing lights has dropped considerably in the last few weeks. It will drop even more in March.
The nearly first quarter moon appears close to the bright planet Jupiter and the bright star Aldebaran on the evening of Wednesday, March 5. All three are in the zodiacal constellation Taurus and they are only six degrees apart, an impressive triangle.
Aldebaran is the brightest star in Taurus, and it is known to be huge.
The two brightest planets in our evening sky are Venus and Jupiter. This is a good time to take note of both, for Venus is beginning to slide closer and closer to the horizon.
Venus is brightest, because it is both the closest and it is covered by clouds.
Jupiter is bright, because it is the biggest planet in our solar system. It is prominent in our night sky, in the zodiacal constellation Taurus. The planet is 484 million miles away and getting farther away.
Venus is getting closer to us and will be closest early in March, but not visible.
